Moving Forest by NL Architects

30 November 2008

Dutch architects NL created a forest of 100 trees planted in shopping trolleys at the Urban Play event in Amsterdam, Netherlands, which ended earlier this month.

The project, called Moving Forest, was inspired by a children's story about a forest that moves at night so people trapped in it can never escape.

Urban Play is an international project by Droog Design, created and curated by Scott Burnham and presented as part of ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam 2008.

The trees were given away at the end of the project. There is a video of the project here.

The following is from NL architects:

Moving Forest

The Moving Forest are 100 trees strapped into 100 shopping-carts lurking around in an urban environment blocking peoples way and forcing passers to act on them.

According to NL’s Gen Yamamoto the idea comes from a story he heard as a child about a forest where the trees move at night so that people would loose there way and could never get out. This story has been haunting him ever since.

In his mind he could imagine people adopting a tree .e.g. homeless could start to take one on their journey through the city. The trees would pop up unexpectedly in small side streets or dark corners or be pushed over a big public square. They would group in smaller groups or be sparkled over the town. Out of liability reasons for the Urban Play event 2 they are fenced in by concrete stones in a neat rectangle. Nevertheless, since they will be placed almost blocking the entire pedestrian area on Piet Heinkade in Amsterdam for a length of about 30 meters, they will surely create a surprising effect.

After the period of 6 weeks when the festival is over, the trees will be sold on to citizens and find a new home. At last then Gen’s Image of trees passing through the city and breaking in on people in hideous spots is coming true.